The Biggest Marathon Training Mistake - Do This Instead

I dive into the art and science of setting a realistic marathon goal time and the critical aspects of marathon training that many runners overlook. By shifting focus from arbitrary finish times to performance-based goals, you can take control of your marathon training and race day. Let's unravel the biggest marathon training mistakes and how to fix them with a scientific approach.

🔑 Key Steps for Effective Marathon Training:

Setting Realistic Goals: Avoid choosing arbitrary finish times. Focus on performance, not just the clock.

Understanding Physiological Demands: Recognize the importance of aerobic capacity, anaerobic threshold, and muscular conditioning in marathon running.

Long Run Mistakes to Avoid:

• Running too hard for aerobic capacity development.
• Making your long runs too lengthy for marathon pace efforts.
• Repeating these errors in consecutive runs.
• Personalized Training Plans: Implement a plan tailored to your threshold and training zones.

Threshold and Training Zones:

Conduct a 30min Time Trial (TT) or use recent race data.
Calculate threshold using the last 20min of your TT or 10km race.
Use my calculators to determine your specific zones.

Marathon Training Phases:

Base Phase (more than 12 weeks out): Focus on Zone 2 heart rate for long runs, aiming for 2 - 2:30 hours.
Build Phase (12-8 weeks out): Introduce Zone 3 efforts in long runs, combining heart rate and pace/power metrics.
Final Phase (8 weeks out): Progressive runs to establish marathon pace/power, culminating in a 20 mile (32km) run 3 weeks before the race.
General Build-Up Plan: Follow a structured plan for gradual improvement and pace consistency.

LINKS

#marathon #running #runner

[JackD]

Those three 2.5hr runs with 30mins marathon effort sound brutal that far out… I’m doing it 😂😂

[hannapeterrsson]

Really happy to have found your channel! Saved this video to come back for when I run my first marathon!

[jimoconnor]

At 60, I just ran 3:08:22 at California International Marathon. 17' PR/PB, 41" BQ. 5th marathon. Using power seems to take away all the issues with HR (stress, hills, wind, heat, dehydration, etc) for me. I use JD vDOT to estimate my predicted finish times along with my Stryd power predictions. JD vDOT had me at 3:09:55 and Stryd 3:11:23. Pretty accurate. Good info!

[jameschaves]

Outstanding video!! The way in which you simplified this was pure genius

[mitchatkins]

Dude, is this program for runners under 3hr30 marathons? because I think such long runs for us slower runners would shatter us

[limew]

6:36 The long run of 60-90min at "threshold specific intensity", do you mean in zone 4 ie faster than marathon pace? ​ @drwilloconnor

[deanbaxter]

As a trail runner I find it hilarious when road runners say they struggle to stay in zone 2 on long runs, the truth is they don’t want to look slow on Strava, if I can stay in zone 2 on a 5-6 hour trail run with 1500m of vert I’m pretty sure anyone can stay in zone 2 on a road, undulating or not.
I also do my marathon pace medium long run the day before my long trail, the session will be 15 minutes warm up followed by 3x30min at MP with 3 minutes easy between reps, I’ll then cool down for 10 minutes.
I started running at the beginning of 2022, so it’s taken me a while to build up to this volume but the key was staying well within zone 2 and not trying to do my easy runs at the top of zone 2’s limits.

[anthonywilkinson]

Tried the session ran zone 2 2 hours 30 mins tried my goal marathon pace and went to 173 bpm upper zone 3 is 169 not sure whether or not to call off the sun 3:30 attempt 12 weeks out

[CarlTheAmateurRunner]

Wish I had found this before!
I’m currently training for my first marathon. I’ve struggled with injury and illness and now 8 weeks to go I have no clue what pace/time I should be targeting.

[eriknaylor]

Thanks for all the knowledge you share on YT and on your podcasts. I put my average HR of the last 20 min of a recent 10k into your hr zones and it gives me up to 213 HR for zone 7? How do I use this? My max is 191

[SenthilRameshJV]

Hi, great video. I have been trying to find my zones and will be doing a 30 min TT tomorrow. I find conflicting info in the calcualtor. In step 2, you are asking to find the averaage of 20 mins but in the input caption for Threshold HR, you are asking to enter "Enter your peak 20min HR from my 30min test or 10km race". Should that be peak or average?

[dazamad]

My long runs are not on a dead flat piece of road. It undulates a lot so to maintain an avg pace at the end of my LR is a lot more difficult.

[EricCartmanFTW]

few questions about the training plan
for the final phase @6:27 do we also take (3-5 mins recovery) for the 4x5 kms or only the 3x8 kms. that part is a bit unclear

in the build phase, when adding the 30 mins zone 3, we should target running at marathon pace while trying to make the heart rate not going above 90% at the end correct? simulating the HR we usually end a marathon with

[PeakStride]

Awesome mate - appreciate the grind this content takes. Good to see you're getting traction.

A fellow Running YT-er

Connor.

[giro]

That's a great video, but I am not sure about the zone 2 (I would love to hear Your opinion!). For the record, I use Garmin Forerunner 255 with HRM tri. I ran my first marathon four months ago in 3h 44min and I'm 21 years old.

Why am I not sure about running long runs in zone two is that I literally can't run in zone two - 2-3km max! For me, very chill and easy runs are in the third zone. I can run in zone three very long without getting tired. What's more, You were talking about running the marathon in zone 3, I ran my marathon in zone 4 (71%) and even zone 5 at the end (28%) and I really wasn't that tired at the end! My legs were fatigued but I felt really good.

These were my zones created by Garmin back in the day of the marathon:
Z5 >184
Z4 163 - 183
Z3 143 - 162
Z2 122 - 142
Z1 102 - 121
I have a quite high HR at my age (I think), maximum noted by Garmin occured at 3km race month ago and it was 218 with an average of 201.

I write about it because I am curious about Your opinion, as I am an amateur

edit: My next goal is to run 3h 30min in april, as I am able to hold 5:05 +- 5s pace during 12km intervals of zone 4 and I have still 14 weeks

[DrProfX]

So, if you’re able to do 7:20/mile pace for a 20 mile run with last few miles at 7:15 pace, would you say that it’s realistic to have 7:15 pace as your goal race pace (avg. pace for the entire 20 miles ended up being 7:21 per mile)? Or could potential be even faster pace?

[adibandi]

What about if my last 20 mins from a 10k were in hot weather and 180hr average? It puts my zones very high. Is this accurate?

[nillsvdb]

Are these long runs not way too hard if you’re already doing threshold and speed sessions during the week? Seems like recipe for injury if you’re not a pro or semi-pro athlete. Wonder if it does not make more sense to do a zone 2 long run in the weekend en do some marathon specific work in the week, like building up from 30min to 90min at marathon pace.

[JamesDavis-sqkm]

On the 3rd week of the build phase you said the long run day should be a "down" week. Do you mean a rest day or just a zone 2 long run? Thanks for the great info!

[LeoShoSilva]

Is the base phase length like Lydiard's as long as possible?